Posts by Andrea Lipinski

Do you like fantasy and science fiction? Are you ready for some armchair exploration? For your reading pleasure, check out these three new books that are set in alternate futures and alternate realities!

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
The Fourth World War has already come and gone, a deadly plague is spreading over the earth, and the lunar queen is waiting to make her next move. Cinder is one of the best mechanics in New Beijing, and one of the main reasons that

The teens in our Teen Advisory Group have been involved in several recent brainstorming sessions to pick out their favorite books, music, and movies that were released this year. Their selections included all kinds of stuff — funny, weird, and thought-provoking — even stuff that will make you want to dance.

The new school year has just begun, but already the teens in Kingsbridge Library's Teen Advisory Group have been reading up a storm. Here are some of their favorite books from 2011 — some of them are already on our shelves, and some of them will be released in the coming months. They're all listed in our Catalog, so you can reserve copies of these new and super-new titles!

Bullying is a horrible thing. It sticks with you forever. It poisons you. But only if you let it.

These lines, from Heather Brewer's story "The Secret," touch on the prevailing themes of a new book called Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories. Since October is National Bullying Prevention Month, it seemed especially appropriate to share this book right now.

Dear Bully is a collection containing stories by many authors who have written books for

Do you love Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games trilogy? Are you REALLY hoping that the new Hunger Games movie is going to do justice to the book? Do you want to read more books in which the world as we know it has ended... and a dark and dangerous world has taken its place? Where a dark and dangerous guy (or, for that matter, a blonde and dangerous guy) will look deeply into your eyes and inspire you to fight against the society

As the school year ends and the members of our Teen Advisory Group plan to ride off into the sunset (or at least take a vacation or go to summer camp), I thought I would share some more of their favorite books, CDs, and DVDs that they enjoyed this year.

He is instantly recognizable, even to people who have never read any of the novels and stories written about him. He uses his powers of deductive reasoning better than almost anyone. He never actually said, "Elementary, my dear Watson" except in the movies. And even though he's one of the most famous detectives the world has ever known, he never really existed.

Sherlock Holmes was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote many short stories and novels about this character who soon became more famous and popular than his creator (and

Thursday April 14th is Poem in Your Pocket Day. This tradition began in New York City in 2002 and expanded nationally several years later. If you go to New York City's PIYPD page, you can learn about special events that will take place that day, and even read some poems by mayor Michael Bloomberg. But let's get to the real question... how will you pick the right poem for your pocket?

Lynda Barry, most renowned for her comic strips and graphic novels featuring the character of Marlys, has written and illustrated two different books that incorporate cartoon characters into an unusual and inspiring exploration of the creative process. One focuses more on writing and the other focuses more on artwork, but the graphic novel format means that fans of words and pictures alike will be able to appreciate both books.

Here are some of the latest and greatest graphic novels around, as recommended by the American Library Association's 2011 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list. See if you agree with my favorites from this list, and feel free to recommend some of your own!

After discussing 2010's music CD releases with the members of the Kingsbridge Library's Teen Advisory Group, I learned a few things about popular music. I learned that just because a performer was popular with teens all over the country didn't mean that this performer was popular with MY teens (like Taylor Swift, for example). I learned how to pronounce Ke$ha's name correctly (excuse me for not knowing how to pronounce something with a DOLLAR SIGN in it!) I learned that many teens are of the opinion that "only old people buy music from

There are many novels about death in the young adult section of most libraries. Some of them deal with the death of the teen narrator, or with the death of a parent or another family member. But today I'm going to focus on stories where death and friendship are intertwined. Many of these stories are especially poignant because (let's face it) we choose our friends, not our families, so often our friends are closer to us than family members could ever be.

When we read realistic fiction we're looking for a real-life experience, with all of

To jumpstart our brainstorming session of DVDs that were released in 2010, I printed out a list from amazon.com of their top-selling DVDs and brought it to my last Teen Advisory Group meeting. My kids agreed with some of titles on that list, violently disagreed with others, and used the titles on that list as starting points to remember even more of their favorite films and TV shows that were released this year. Their favorite DVDs of the year were filled with plenty of action, special effects, humor, and horror.

Lucia is a fan of Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm. In this story, an 11-year-old girl named Turtle is sent to Key West, Florida to live with her aunt and cousins. And while she's there, she finds a long-lost treasure map. This is a funny and dramatic story that takes place during the mid 1930s.

Finbar Frame has a lot of things going against him. He's not a popular star athlete like his brother, he's allergic to the sun, and... oh yes, his name is Finbar. When a girl on the train sees Finbar's pale skin and bandaged arms, she has a suspicion about what he really is. When she asks what happened to his arms and Finbar answers, "Too much sun," she's not repulsed or confused as most people would be. Instead, she's delighted.

That's because she thinks that this strange boy must be a vampire like the one in the

Right now, the teens in our Teen Advisory Group are reading a boatload of books so that they can recommend their personal favorites. Solen, our top reader of the year (so far!) wanted to share some of his favorite books from 2010, and here they are:

A few years ago I picked up Suzanne Supplee's novel Artichoke's Heart, which caught my eye because the unique title seemed at odds with the box of chocolates on the cover. But the more I read this story, about an overweight girl named Rosemary who gets diet books, a treadmill, and tickets to a conference called "Healing the Fat Girl Within" for Christmas, the more I was hooked.

Rosemary is a great narrator. She's funny and sarcastic and angry and smart all at the same time. Yes, she wants to